Online Task Force - Bridging Face-to-face and Online in Hybrid Environments

Bridging Face-to-Face and Online in Hybrid Environment

Chrystal Dean, Appalachian State University

Setting the Context

Master’s level advanced mathematics content and methods course taught during the first summer session in 2018. The course had six graduate level pre-service teachers (PSTs) pursuing a master’s degree in elementary education. This hybrid five-week course met 50% face-to-face and 50% asynchronously online.

Instructional design based on Backward Design Plus (Dean, 2019)

Desired Results: both a content and pedagogical focus. The overarching mathematical learning goal was for PSTs to be able to identify and analyze common mathematical misconceptions and determine instructional practices to support elementary students to overcome those misconceptions. The guiding pedagogical learning goal was for PSTs to investigate, plan for, and make conjectures about implementation of whole class mathematical discussions .
Assessment Evidence: two major summative assessments: 1) completed Intentional Talk Templates for both open sharing and targeted discussion strategies based on other PSTs solution strategies and explanations on high cognitive demand tasks that focused on common mathematical misconceptions and 2) a Misconceptions Paper which required the PSTs to identify a topic in mathematics that is often misunderstood by students in elementary or middle school. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) provided examples of the students’ misconceptions, descriptions of how teachers may help reinforce these misconceptions, and suggestions for ways that teachers may correct these misconceptions or help students avoid developing them initially.

Environmental Factors: Each of these performance-based assessment evidences were a result of both the focus on the two learning goals and the hybrid environment.

In addition, chose VoiceThread as tool to use for a formative assessment cycle based on student created VoiceThreads, comments on other’s VoiceThreads, and whole class face-to-face discussions.

Learning Experiences and Instruction. Goal to make face-to-face days and online days build on each other rather than being siloed.

Typical Face-to-Face Day

Misconceptions Conversation

Prior to class, students have read a book chapter about a mathematical misconception in a certain content area. They have posted questions to an online forum to guide our face-to-face discussion.

Intentional Talk modeled from student online solutions

Prior to class, students solved a problem or problems and demonstrated their solution and thinking via VoiceThread. Using those posted student solutions, I model a whole class discussion based on the Intentional Talk Chapter read prior to class and students are assigned the Intentional Talk Template to complete on Moodle.

Mathematical Task(s)

In class, students work on a mathematics problem specifically selected to engage any prior knowledge on the content area they will be working on in the asynchronous environment the next day. If needed, a second problem/activity is presented to set up the “homework” problem that will be solved via VoiceThread in the online environment.

Online Assignment

VT Create/Comment Math Task; Moodle Intentional Talk Template

Typical Asynchronous Day

Mathematical Task

Using VoiceThread, students solve a mathematical task that builds on the problems solved during the face-to-face class. This must be completed before 8pm on the same day as the face-to-face class.

Task Discussion

I pick one or more of these mathematical task solutions to be reviewed by the students based on a guiding question I provide. Again, using VoiceThread, students comment on the solutions. These comments will later be used to guide the Intentional Talk conversation for the face-to-face class the next day.

Readings and Moodle Postings

After completing all tasks and task reviews, students complete a chapter reading in Intentional Talk and a reading on a specific mathematical misconception. They post questions to Moodle to help guide the face-to-face discussion which will be completed the next day.

References

Dean, C. (2019, November). Backward Design Plus: Taking the Learning Context into Consideration. In E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 1345-1348). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

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